


[An Irken Call] Chapter 1

by jaqyu



Series: An Irken Call [2]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Gen, Irken Empire (Invader Zim), Irken OC, Irkens (Invader Zim), Original Irkens - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 12:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21507856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaqyu/pseuds/jaqyu
Summary: Sorry for the wait! Here's chapter 1!Wone is an Irken Soldier who doesn't wish to become an Invader, but somehow ends up chosen out of pure luck (or maybe in his case, bad luck). He's assigned a desolated planet far from his Irken Empire, and figures "let's just get this over with so I can go back to my old job". But there's something weird about the seemingly dead planet. Familiar metal junk and technology, corrupted data logs, traces of previous visitors, and something creeping in the darkness...Canon characters have minor roles, there are no romantic sideplots.
Series: An Irken Call [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1507616
Kudos: 4





	[An Irken Call] Chapter 1

Irk.  
A seemingly small planet, in comparison to its neighbours at least, but recently one of the most feared planets heard of across multiple galaxies. It's not the planet itself that makes other species break a droplet of whatever sweat their organism produce, or shift their eyes - some more or less than the standard two - to another topic. No, rather than the small, pink moonless planet circling through a nameless orbit of conquered planets serving whatever purpose fits the Irken Empire, it is just that which they fear. The Irken Empire.  
A military-driven race of otherwise weak organisms but with advanced technology that invade and overtake planets from the inside. Whether you join their alliance or let them conquer you, you end up on their list of disposable assets either way. Stay useful, or watch your race get written off history in the blink of an eye (if you got any).

Our story starts in a long, quiet hallway that stretches above streets and buildings and its buzzing society. Robot units soar silently between corridors and in the distance marching soldiers echo between the glass-panelled outer walls. Our character of interest is one lone guard with a straightened back and close grip of his shock spear, holding his post in front of a wide door. How long he had been standing there was unknown, most likely his posture had changed little if at all in the entirety of that duration. But soon enough, heavy heels against hard metal floor echoed through the hallways as a green figure approached him, waving a gloved hand and calling out with a cheerful grin. The guard gave no reaction, not even turning to his direction, and remained unwavered.

"Hey! Heey! Come on man, I know you're blind but are you deaf too?"

No reply.

"No one else has arrived yet, right?" the blue-eyed irken looked around while catching his breath, then threw the other a stupid grin.

"Tardiness is unacceptable of a soldier," the other finally replied, still not facing him.

He exhaled half a laugh with his grin remaining as a smirk, observing the other's dim, frowning red eye. This protocol-driven guard with half a working vision is known as Wone and serves as this story's main character. He's the epitome of an irken soldier - perfect theory scores, perfect stealth mission outcomes, perfect combat training results. Never late, unfazed in any situation, and quick to finish his job at hand. Few at words, but bold with the ones he chose.  
Our tardy, rather laid-back, character is known as Tei. While he performs well in physical exams, he lacks in... well, pretty much everything else. He's not the best example of a soldier, but compared to his friend (his words, not Wone's), most present as lesser examples so perhaps he's just average after all. Despite all that though, he wasn't all brute and no brain, and he definitely wasn't lucky in earning his spot. He worked as hard as anyone else and despite their differences, Wone knew and respected that.  
Tei threw his shock spear over his shoulders, resting his arms over it while leaning back at the wall next to Wone.

"Hey, did you hear they're preparing for the next trial?"

Silence.

"You should sign up for it, it would be an honour."

...

"Well, not like we got any choice, all soldiers are required to partake."

Wone had no interest in such things, he was content with his current position, which was a job he's had since the beginning, and saw no reason to make changes to. Tei wasn't the kind to dream big either, but like most irkens he still held a desire to be _someone_ that their leader would look at and recognise. He wanted to make his homeworld proud and to know his name. _He_ wanted to be that _someone_ that put the irken mark on a planet to tell the universe "This is ours." He knew that this is what all irkens dream about, he knew that even someone as composed and humble as Wone also dreamt of that.  
Wone was an irken few at words, not because he didn't like to speak (well, maybe that too) but because he kept his thoughts to himself. He rarely spoke unless ordered to and irkens like Tei simply had to learn to read him without words exchanged back and forth. Which might make it sound like they're such close friends, with Tei knowing everything that goes inside his partner's head, but sadly that's far from the case.  
He himself was open like a book; always outspoken, always brash, always _loud_ most might even say. And because they were such polar opposites, Tei couldn't help but be _so curious_. The only reason he stuck around Wone despite communication being an issue, was because he was _curious_ and wanted to know what _exactly_ hides behind a face that never expresses itself. Their personalities were programmed by their PAKs, but it's not like the Control Brains leave them as empty shells with no sentience or personal mind for thoughts. Other species claim the Irken Empire to be a brutal, heartless, brainwashed alien race but we're far from it. The previous Almighty Tallests were far from it.

"You would've passed the trial last time if you hadn't showed up _late._ "

Tei stared out at the same view the other had kept his sight fixated on. Wone was never late to anything (we already established that a few paragraphs ago), so the fact he had showed up late for the trial of all things was something that had been bothering Tei ever since. He had been there with him during it, they had travelled to Devastis together in the same ship, shared lockers next to each other, and he knew Wone had finished before him because he's always done way ahead of time while Tei was always way behind. Yet Tei had managed to exit the lockers before the power outage and Wone was trapped, with no attempt at breaking free. Tei had called out for him and tried to get him out, but there had been no response from the other side. No banging, no grumbling, not a single noise but his own struggle from the outside. And before he knew it, they had both missed the trial. Well, there was no surprise in Tei being too late once more, but never in his life had he thought he'd share the last place spot with his friend. He had told Wone - practically begged him - to plead the Control Brains for another chance. But he had refused, stating that there was no point in asking for the impossible. Tei had overheard another soldier being denied a second chance, so he knew Wone was speaking the truth. But to give up so easily, on the most honourable rank an irken can wish to earn... for the first time, he was the one at loss of words.  
Tei's thoughts were finally interrupted by a long-awaited reply.

"If it was not meant to be then, it's not meant to be ever."

Tei stared at him for a second before smiling softly, turning to the sound of soldiers running by in the corridor next to them.

"Becoming an invader is an honour both to the Irken Empire — and the Tallest."

As the marching troops grew more distant down the corridor, silence deafened the hallways once more. Before either of them could break it this time though, the door they had been standing in front of suddenly opened, causing Tei to panic as he fumbled with his shock spear (almost dropping it). He managed to get a grip of it and stand upright before anyone (hopefully) noticed. A tall figure, followed by guards and an advisor, moved quietly past them without a word spoken. Once they had made a turn around the corner, Tei let out his held-in breath and turned to Wone with a panicked frown, yelling but in a whisper

"Why didn't you tell me they had already arrived?!"

But Wone, who had remained unfazed the entire time, ignored him as he kept his single working eye fixated on the world outside the walls.

* * *

They clocked out of their current job just to clock in for the next one. A soldier's job was never over, especially that of a guard. Despite that though, they did have short breaks, during which Tei would try to cheat the snack machine while Wone read up on their next job. Everyone around them was gossiping about the trials and Tei was eager to stop and catch up on it. Wone on the other hand kept his focus on the current job. With no official statement from the Almighty Tallest, there was no need to gossip about baseless rumours.

"Hey, watch it!"

He was suddenly yanked by the arm right before walking into a service drone. The drone was slightly "startled" - as in it stopped, spun its camera head around, then backed up and drove around them. Tei let out a sigh, watching it disappear down the hall. Wone remained still without saying anything until Tei realised he's been holding the guy's arm perhaps a bit longer than necessary. He quickly released him and held his hand up next to his face, as if showing there's nothing in it. Why? He had no idea and the awkwardness grew as a knot in his squeedlyspooch.

"Maybe walking and reading at the same time isn't the best idea," he laughed nervously and looked at Wone, who had gone right back to looking at his pad. He glanced at his own hand and wondered why it was still hanging there, internally arguing with his own body. He followed after him, keeping his eyes in front of them since the other didn't heed his warning (not like he expected him to, anyway).  
Despite showing no disadvantage to his shortcomings, Tei knew more than Wone thought he let on. The constant frown he held on to wasn't just part of his "charming" character trait, but a struggle to measure distance and read perception. He might appear as the perfect soldier marching down the hall, head held high and feet keeping an uninterrupted rhythm, but Tei had been witness to more than one incident of door-to-head impact and reaching hands grasping nothing but air. He had blamed on Wone's pad for almost crashing into a drone, in an attempt to cover up Wone's...

The corner of Tei's mouth twitched as his thoughts paused.

... "disability."

He swallowed hard as he felt his mouth become dry, trying to redirect his thoughts to the snack machine and how he should have gotten a drink instead of a doughnut. Wone's sleeve was still a bit wrinkled from Tei's previous grip but he hadn't bothered fixing it and Tei's eyes couldn't help but find themselves staring at it.

"Our next job is escorting a prisoner to the cells on the upper levels."

Wone had no issue with walking and reading at the same time, he didn't have to look up to know his surroundings and he knew where to turn and when to stop. He struggled more with things closer up and approaching than in a general area around him. Well, as long as it wasn't on his right side, Tei assumed in his head as he kept catching himself glancing to his creased sleeve. The same arm was holding the pad Wone was reading out loud from as the other scrolled. He forced himself to focus on what Wone was talking about and not whatever his stupid body couldn't take their eyes off of. Maybe it was actually him who was the def--

Speaking of their right side, another group approached them in the corridor, distractingly chatting amongst themselves. They were on the same side as Wone's blind spot, the same side as his creased sleeve, and the same side Tei had to be his extra eyes for. He noticed that Wone's elbow would bump into them and right as he was about to call it out to his friend, he bit his tongue as he didn't want to out his flaw in front of others. Flaw? Was that really how he referred to it now? He wasn't _wrong_ but something about calling it that, even in his own head, _felt_ wrong. He kept glancing between Wone's arm, to the group and back to staring at his arm. The same wrinkled sleeve he had already used his daily (weekly? monthly? foreverly?) 'personal space'-pass on. His head was getting dizzy with decision-making and before he knew it he had grabbed Wone's arm once again, pushing him to move closer to the wall, as he waved at the other group with a smile. Once they had passed by them, he quickly pulled back his hand and apologised, mumbling again about Wone 'reading and walking and not paying attention and'  
He shut up as he watched Wone look at his sleeve, noticing the crease from before, and fixing it without a word. He went back to reading the job description as if nothing had happened. There was some kind of relief in Tei as his up-till-now stiff shoulders slouched - but at the same time, he felt uneasy. Like something was stuck in his dry throat. And it wasn't the doughnut from before.  
He was starting to really regret not buying that drink earlier.

* * *

The doors opened and a small irken in a long, purple robe and striped sleeves hurried inside. The room was dark, with the only light emitting from a lit-up platform, and its surrounding screens and star-filled windows. On it a tall figure stood, tapping and flicking virtual screens in front of them in silence. They appeared as a silhouette, with their PAK glowing faintly on their back. The little irken was too mesmerised to speak up, she had known them long before either of them had their current roles though they had never quite interacted. Perhaps it was more that she knew of them while she remained nothing more than another pawn in their great plan. And while she still made mistakes with her new job as an advisor, a job she had suddenly been appointed without a word beforehand, the irken before her had adjusted to their job right away. She had known them as this short irken who did nothing but cause trouble wherever they went. A nuance, some would call them, and someone no one thought would ever come back. But now they towered over her small stature and every word they spoke sent shivers down her spine.  
Her arms were wrapped around bundles of paper that she had struggled to hold in her small arms rushing here, and without turning around the other broke the silence.

"Is it ready?"

Her voice got stuck in her throat and she tried to stutter out a reply, but instead dropped everything on the ground. She whimpered in panic as papers spread out across the entire floor. Trying her best to quickly put them all together while still trying to force her voice to answer, one page danced in the air before softly landing on the platform, sliding across it and stopping right by the other's hovering feet. When she noticed that they bent down to pick it up she gasped and sprinted over with a forced stutter

"S- sir, please, d- don't I- I apologise I'm s, so--"

As she set one foot on the platform, the panic grew in tenfold and she found herself paralysed on the spot. The other had already picked up the paper and skimmed through it; they then turned around and silently moved towards her. Her body wouldn't move but her antennae stood tall and began to vibrate as they got closer. They bent down a bit and handed her the paper. Her big yellow eyes reflected the light from the platform as she stared up at them and for a moment, she thought her antennae curled closer to her head.

"It's time."

She broke out of her frozen state and accepted the paper back; quickly stuffing it back with the rest. She bowed politely before rushing out and the other watched her leave before turning back to the view of stars and planets twinkling brightly on the outside.


End file.
